A MAP of the religions of the world shows a solid block
of Mohammedanism in the Middle East. The menace of this great power lay
for centuries like a nightmare upon the heart of Christendom. Had its two
lines of advance, westward through North Africa and Spain and eastward
through the Balkans to Vienna, coincided in point of time, the Western
Church might have shared the fate of the Eastern, and the Koran been
taught in Oxford. Long after that danger had passed, and indeed down to
our own time, the Mohammedan world presented an unbroken front, and
instead of being, what from its doctrine of the one true God it might have
been expected to be, a halfway house to Christianity, it has proved the
bitterest foe and the most formidable rival of our faith.

In spite of this, it must be confessed that
comparatively little has been done in modern times to bring the Gospel to
Moslems. Nor are the reasons far to seek. By Moslem law conversion to
Christianity was forbidden under pain of death, and this dread penalty
might be inflicted either by the decree of the ruler or by the fanaticism
of the people. There was therefore no opening for missions in many Moslem
lands, and even where access was possible, the field was found to be
exceptionally hard and unproductive. The whole system of Islam seemed
rigidly fixed beyond all hope of change, and so for the most part the
Church passed onward to the more promising fields beyond.

I

The Scottish Churches have come into contact with
Moslems through their Jewish Missions in Palestine, Constantinople, and
Egypt, where they have freely given help and healing without distinction
of race or creed. But it was not till 1886 that a purely Moslem Mission
was founded at Aden, the southern gateway of Arabia.

This Mission, though intimately associated with the
Free Church, was at the outset the daring conception of a free-lance, who
in a spirit of complete devotion offered his life and fortune to the
cause. His name was Ion Keith-Falconer, son of the eighth earl of Kintore.
He was a man of the most brilliant gifts. His magnificent physique made
him a champion athlete, his feats especially as a cyclist on the old high
bicycle bringing him a world-wide renown. His intellectual attainments
were no less distinguished. When only twenty-nine he was appointed
Professor of Arabic at Cambridge. But from earliest boyhood the master
passion of his heart had been the winning of souls for Christ. Both in
Cambridge and in London he laboured among the outcast, and now, in the
bright morning of his married life and with the prospect of a great
career, he felt impelled to lay his all upon the altar.

He chose for the site of the Mission, Sheikh-Othman, a
village immediately to the north of Aden, on the high road into the
interior. There he hoped to get into touch with the numerous caravans
which come out of the desert to Aden, bringing for shipment the coffee,
gums, and spices of Arabia. His design was, in addition to preaching and
teaching, to establish a medical mission, of which he proposed to bear the
whole cost. It was a noble offering, and such as gave rise to the highest
hopes. But within a year Keith-Falconer was struck down. He had addressed
the General Assembly of 1886, and gone forth with many blessings and
prayers. To the next General Assembly came the news of his death, and the
heart of the Church was profoundly stirred. It smote men with poignant
sorrow to think of the blighted hopes, of the rare gifts lost, and of the
tragedy of that lone grave beside the barren rocks of Aden, smothered with
sand and dust, and far from the green banks of Urie.

But with the sorrow went a strong resolve that work so
finely conceived and begun at such a cost must not be allowed to fail. The
Church received the Mission as a sacred trust, and sounded the call for
volunteers. "Who comes next, when KeithFalconer is down ? "exclaimed the
Moderator, Principal Rainy, and Professor Lindsay, the Foreign Mission
Convener, passionately seconded the appeal. "Shall this Free Church, to
whose service he gave himself, abandon the work he began? God forbid that
it should! Who, then, shall follow where he led the way, and bear aloft
the banner of Christ which the young leader of the forlorn hope still
grasps in his dead hand ? "The appeal did not
fall on deaf cars, and Keith-Falconer may be numbered among that immortal
band who have done more for the Kingdom of God by their death than by
their life.

II

The mantle fell upon Dr. John Young, who built the
hospital at Sheikh-Othman and gave thirty-three years of devoted service
to South Arabia. He was in many ways singularly fitted for the work. The
son of a sergeant in the Royal Field Artillery, he took special pleasure
in ministering to the Scottish troops at Aden, and there were not a few
who testified that they had found Christ in the little Keith-Falconer
Church at Steamer Point. Lieut.-Col. Jacob voiced the feelings of many
soldiers when he said, speaking after Dr. Young’s death, "Aden without him
will be a desolation."

His chief work, however, lay at Sheikh-Othman, and for
this difficult task he had been prepared not merely by his studies, but by
all the arduous struggles of his youth. It was, indeed, an unpromising
field. It was impossible to travel beyond the immediate neighbourhood of
Aden, except with a large and armed escort. The Sultan of Lahej ruled his
people in barbarous Eastern fashion. Frequent cases came into hospital of
men whose right hand had been cut off and the stump plunged into boiling
tar to stop the haemorrhage. The whole country was in a wild and lawless
state, with little respect for human life. Speaking of a journey into the
interior after he had begun to win his way with the people, Dr. Young
said, "I counted hundreds of cairns that had been raised over the bodies
of people murdered for the few possessions they or their donkeys were
carrying. In fact, so thick were these cairns in places that I could
almost have jumped from grave to grave, while only a few weeks before two
villages had been entirely wiped out by the bandit robbers of the
district."

The truth that Medical Missions are the pioneers of
evangelism and real civilisation has been amply verified in South Arabia.
Such was the experience and testimony of Dr. Young. Sufferers came to the
hospital in steadily increasing numbers, and carried home with them deep
impressions of the skill and kindness of the Mission doctor. In this way
an atmosphere of friendliness began to spread through the country, and it
became possible, with some measure of safety, to travel among the
villages. Dr. Young had charming stories to tell of gratitude and of
hospitality received in wild and unexpected places. "
I was encamped," he writes, "on the borders of the Subaihi country,
a place noted for its lawlessness, and went out for my usual camel ride
after getting through my work, just as it was growing dusk. On my way back
to the tent, I came upon three fierce-looking men armed to the teeth. As
they saw me they all started up and made for my camel, which one commanded
to kneel, having seized the nose-bridle. With my heart in my mouth I asked
what they wanted, and you may be sure I was pleased to discover that they
were old patients, who, out of gratitude, wanted to give me a cup of
coffee and a smoke." On another occasion he writes: "Just as I was
entering a small village, an old woman hastily baked some scones when she
knew who I was, and brought out a large basin of milk, with all the
kindliness of a Scottish hostess, refusing the money I proffered, saying,
‘No, no; you have come to me as the guest of God, for you were the means
of healing my son.’ And since then that name, ‘the guest of God,’ has
stuck to me." Who would not envy such a title ? Surely it is an honour
above all earthly dignities to be received among any people as the guest
of God.

III

That the work was not without its dangers may be
gathered from another incident. He had been summoned to the neighbouring
town of Lahej to operate for cataract on an Arab dignitary. His
instructions as to dressings were disregarded by the patient, eager to use
his eye, and sepsis ensued. Some days later, Dr. Young’s horse was found
dead, stabbed in its stable in his compound. It was afterwards discovered
that an emissary of his unfortunate patient had been sent to murder the
doctor, but, being unable to make his entrance into the bungalow, had
contented himself by killing the doctor’s horse.

His life was a notable example of how antagonisms can
be overcome and hostility quenched by the spirit of peace and love. This
was true of his influence on Arab and British alike. When Keith-Falconer
began his work, the authorities at Aden warned him not to broach religious
subjects for fear of a rising, and it must be confessed that British
authorities everywhere have shown themselves unduly timid in the face of
Moslem religious feeling. But when Dr. Young died he was not only
acclaimed as "that grand old man of Aden," but was officially declared to
be "our best political asset in the country." Nor were the Arabs less
cordial in their appreciation. The Moslem community of Sheikh-Othman, in a
letter of condolence, spoke touchingly of the love and kindness which had
made his name a household word among them, and of their great sorrow at
his loss. "Why should we not weep when we think of all that he did for us
and for our country?"

It may appear to some that such lives are as water
poured out upon the ground. Even were that so, they might at least be
compared to the rivers of Arabia which, though they never reach the sea
but are swallowed up by the thirsty sand, yet do not run their course in
vain. Along their banks a little strip is rescued from the desert and made
green and fertile. But in reality the influence has been far wider, for it
is no exaggeration to say that one of the greatest blessings of our time
lies in the fact that such Christlike lives as those of Young and
KeithFalconer have touched the Mohammedan world. The problem of the Middle
East was never graver than it is to-day, and no less an authority than
Lord Bryce has said that, towards the solution of it, nobody has done any
good east of Constantinople except the missionaries.

IV

Since the War, the Middle East has been swept as by a
tidal wave. The ancient changeless East is changing before our eyes with
bewildering rapidity. For years before the War, Western influences had
been percolating through, but now the gates are wide open, and they are
pouring in like a flood. The motor-car, the aeroplane, the newspaper, the
cinema, all are playing their part for good or ill. The unbroken front of
Islam is a thing of the past, the dream of Pan-Islamism has vanished, and
a new spirit of nationalism has taken its place. The Turks have abolished
the Caliphate because it stood in the way of modern progress.

The Nationalists of Egypt have united the Cross and the
Crescent on their flag. They have declared that "the Koran and the Bible
are one, Jesus and Mohammed are one. The Cross and the Crescent on the one
flag is proof of our national unity." No one who knows history will fail
to perceive what an amazing change of sentiment is here.

Now it must not be imagined that Mohammedanism is about
to collapse like a house of cards. Its foundations are far too deep and
firm for that. Nor must it be assumed that Western civilisation is
Christianity. It has been well said that "to impregnate the mind of Moslem
youth with secular Western ideas, to break down through Western commerce
Moslem traditional habits of business, to replace peasant industries with
a highly organised factory system, is not to move an inch nearer to
Christianity. When at dawn the factory siren calling youth to the factory
has drowned the voice of the muezzin calling to prayer, and when
the factory chimney has replaced the minaret, we have not moved towards
the Kingdom of God." It may mean, and in many cases in the Middle East
to-day it does mean, a move towards stark materialism and irreligion.

But at least the door is open—a wide and effectual door
of opportunity in Moslem lands. If there is to-day among educated Moslems
a considerable knowledge of Jesus and the spirit of the Gospel, it is due
to the unwearying labours of the pioneers who toiled in that seemingly
barren and unfruitful field. And now it would appear, if only the Church
has faith and energy equal to her opportunity, that not in a day, nor in a
century, perhaps, but in God’s good time, even the desert may "rejoice and
blossom as the rose."

I thought I would include
some videos for you here to provide some education on some of the lands
in the Middle East and Holy Land.

The history of the Aramean people197 minutes
Watch the complete documentary movie (197 minutes in HD) "The Hidden
Pearl" (Die verborgene Perle) in english and learn about the Aramean
people before and after Christianity, about their language, their
culture, their religion and traditions.

Ottoman Empire Documentary
This is a re-post of a rare documentary on the Ottoman Empire. This is a
much better version than before

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